Groundbreaking for new U.S. home construction gained again in June, climbing 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000 units as building permits climbed 8.7% to an annual rate of 563,000 units, according to Commerce Department data released Friday.
The rate for housing starts surpassed the 530,000 level predicted by Thomson Reuters’ poll of economists. Thomson had projected a 520,000 rate for permits.
The 3.6% increase in starts follows a 17.3% gain in May to 562,000 units, originally reported as a 17.2% surge to 532,000 units. In May, permits were up 4.0% to 518,000 units.
April housing starts were also revised up to 479,000 from 454,000.
Year-over-year housing starts were off 46.0% from a year ago, when 1.078 million units were started. The permits figure was 52.0% below the year-ago rate of 1.174 million.
In the regions, home starts in the Midwest starts climbed 33.3% to 108,000 from 81,000 in May, and in the Northeast sales gained 28.6% to an 81,000 rate from 63,000. In the West, starts slumped 14.8% to 121,000 units from 142,000, while in the South, starts fell 1.4% to 272,000 units from 276,000 units in May.
Meanwhile, June permits rose 13.9% in the South to 303,000 from 266,000, in the Northeast permits increased 5.4% to a 59,000 rate from 56,000, in the Midwest permits rose 3.4% to 91,000 from 88,000, and permits were up 1.9% in the West to 110,000 from 108,000.
Housing completions in the month slid 0.4% to 818,000 units from 821,000 units in May.
